Records Show Triple Crown Contender Had History of Ailments

I’ll Have Another after he was scratched the day before the Belmont Stakes with what was called a “freakish” tendon injury.Credit
John Dunn/The New York Times

I’ll Have Another, the horse attempting to become the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years, had physical ailments well before he was withdrawn from the June 9 Belmont Stakes on the eve of the race, and he was being treated with painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs even as anticipation built for his bid at racing history.

According to veterinary records obtained from New York State racing authorities, I’ll Have Another’s front ankles and knees were X-rayed only four days after his triumph May 19 in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown. Those X-rays revealed that he had osteoarthritis.

Then, only two days before the Belmont, which I’ll Have Another needed to win to complete his Triple Crown quest, the colt was injected with two powerful painkillers as well as a synthetic joint fluid, the records show.

The next morning, the colt’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, abruptly announced that I’ll Have Another would be retired because of a “freakish” injury involving his left front tendon.

But the veterinarian records show that the colt’s ailments had been developing for some time, a fact underscored by a veterinarian, Dr. James Hunt, who did the X-rays after the Preakness and then performed an ultrasound examination on the colt the day before the Belmont.

It was after the ultrasound that Hunt concluded that I’ll Have Another had “chronic/active tendinitis.” He was immediately scratched from the race, the records show.

The records do not show whether I’ll Have Another was ailing during either the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness, and whether he was being given various painkillers as he prepared for those two races.

However, Dr. George Maylin, a veterinarian and longtime head of New York State’s testing laboratory for racehorses, said it was clear that “osteoarthritis has been with this horse for a period of time,” adding that “the tendon problem has also been existent for some period of time.”

Maylin was one of four veterinarians who did not treat I’ll Have Another but reviewed the records on behalf of The New York Times.

Maylin said he could not determine from the records just how serious I’ll Have Another’s problems were. “There is something there,” he said. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t be treating it.”

New York authorities had access to the records only because they insisted that O’Neill, who has had repeated drug violations, provide them if they were going to license him in New York for the race.

The use of pain medication and anti-inflammatory drugs is neither illegal nor uncommon in racing. But the fact that drugs were being used on I’ll Have Another in the days before a race of immense national interest, and were being ordered by a trainer with a controversial past, underscores the uneasiness the issue of drugs is creating in American racing.

Breakdown: Disarray at the Track

Those officials are also aware that American racing continues to be among the world’s leaders in the catastrophic breakdown of horses, a fact that will undoubtedly be noted when the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation holds testimony Thursday on the use of legal and illegal medications in racing and the damage those drugs can do.

Twenty-four horses a week die at the nation’s racetracks, according to an analysis by The Times, and they break down or show signs of injury at the rate of 5.1 per 1,000 starts. This past winter, 30 horses died at Aqueduct racetrack in New York, a 100 percent increase in the fatality rate over the same period the previous year.

Many of the horses had been injected repeatedly with pain medication in the days and weeks before their breakdowns, according to a review of veterinary records by The Times.

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O’Neill maintained Tuesday that I’ll Have Another was healthy and sound right up until the eve of the Belmont and that the diagnostic work he had Hunt perform in the weeks before the race and the medications being given to the colt were simply to ensure that I’ll Have Another was in peak shape.

“Your nerves are tested when you’re a trainer because the horses are in your care,” said O’Neill, who prepared I’ll Have Another for the Belmont with daily gallops in New York. “I X-ray them routinely. We were coming up to the biggest race of his life, and I wanted to make sure that he was perfect.”

He said he was unaware that Hunt had diagnosed osteoarthritis in the days after the Preakness.

“He was sound,” O’Neill said of I’ll Have Another. “He had legs of iron or wouldn’t have been able to do what he did.”

Hunt did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Dr. Sheila Lyons, a veterinarian who is testifying before the Senate panel Thursday and has examined many top-quality racehorses, said that osteoarthritis was not something a doctor expects to find in a relatively young horse like I’ll Have Another.

Lyons said the seriousness of the colt’s condition was evident in what occurred in the two days leading to the Belmont. First, she noted, I’ll Have Another received the two large doses of anti-inflammatories and a synthetic joint fluid. Then, the next day, O’Neill, in announcing the horse was being scratched, said I’ll Have Another showed signs of heat and swelling after an early-morning gallop.

“The fact that response was able to present itself in the face of those two powerful anti-inflammatories is just evidence that this was a very significant injury,” said Lyons, the founder and director of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation.

The veterinarian records for I’ll Have Another provide a glimpse into the care and treatment of a top-level horse. The colt captured five of his seven races, including the Derby and the Preakness, before he was retired. I’ll Have Another was subsequently sold as a stallion for $10 million to a Japanese breeding farm by his owner, Paul Reddam.

Reddam said Tuesday that he did not believe I’ll Have Another had any injuries before the Belmont and that he recommended to O’Neill that an ultrasound be performed on his colt. He said that he was not aware that I’ll Have Another had been X-rayed after the Preakness but that he was not surprised that he had been, or that he had been given medications and painkillers.

“I know the horse was under vet care routinely,” he said, “and there are things you do. Horses are like athletes and they have little aches and pains.”

New York racing authorities forced O’Neill to document every form of treatment the horse received in the weeks leading to the Belmont because of his own résumé.

He has been cited for drug violations more than a dozen times in four states and in August will begin serving a 40-day suspension for manipulating the carbon dioxide levels of his horses, a performance-enhancing technique he has been found guilty of employing on four occasions.

John D. Sabini, the chairman of the New York State Racing and Wagering board, said that the conditions for licensing O’Neill in New York came in the wake of the California suspension and that his agency had been trying to instill some transparency with the Triple Crown on the line. The board also established a barn in which each horse entered in the Belmont Stakes was stabled and monitored by state authorities.

A version of this article appears in print on July 11, 2012, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Records Show Triple Crown Contender Had History of Ailments. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe